I'm a mother of former little league player and this book brings back memories, especially my disgust on how players aren't really developed to push a "winner", so if I have any spoilers in my review be forewarned.
David Thompson is the commissioner of the Babe Ruth league in his town of Indian Village. This Babe Ruth league had been set up since the 1950's as a way for all boys to play baseball besides on a school team, the difference being that on this league, the players can play multiple positions to expand their skill set. Program is run as a non-profit organization. There is a real website for this---baberuthleague.org.
This is where my disgust comes in, because knowing this I saw more of a for profit during my son's time in little league with false birth certificates to allow an obviously older child to play to achieve a winning team. My son wasn't a great player but he enjoyed playing and like it better if he got to play different positions but the coach only pushed the ability to hit the ball and never developed skills for playing positions on the baseball field. Unless one knows baseball well, watching the game can get boring,especially when stuck out in the end field and all the balls fall close to the bases.
In this story, David is fighting for the field of the Babe Ruth league to not be shared with a Elite Baseball Travel league who wants exclusive use of that field over the Babe Ruth league despite the fact that they have use of two other fields. This particular field has light's for night games, as actual concession stand, and a well maintained diet year round. ( All done by volunteers) This Elite team claims that they are doing the same thing as the Babe Ruth league but to join that league costs more money than the the Babe Ruth league and they have made promise of better chance of getting sports scholarship. They may have more players but only develop the better playing members while most just sit on the bench.
This occurred because of the adults forgetting the joy of playing the game and only looking for quick results. The main protagonist is a man named Barkus who had started this Elite Baseball league with the intention of gaining profits while claiming it was a non-profit organization. David, thru research found this out plus found out that the name had not be registered also with the state so he claimed the name and took away their non-profit claim. In term, David was sued by Barkus group in an effort to gain control of the field.
David plans a suitable revenge on the annual town parade day, knowing that this group would try to use field. First, he lets the grass grow unmowed , then he loosened the screws on the brakes, pours a little importer in the plugs for the bases, adds water to the bottom of the chalk dispenser, digs a few pits along first and third baselines, puts chickens in one dugout and connects the water dispenser sprayers to the exhaust pipe. He always has a connection to the loudspeaker system from which he has special effect noises coming forth while he is bombarding the field with exploding smoke bombs. He has 30 ball players dressed in costumes carrying water squirt guns filled with piss run in tandem on to the field to drench the dugout and players and coaches.
David got away with this by doing two things---1 Sending an email out to all coaches on the Babe Ruth league, that there's nothing scheduled on town day on the field . 2 Re-enforcing this information, by having his wife hang out with her friend, who is the police dispatcher, which meant she would be there if Barkus's group called in for police help.
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Great book for baseball fans
Great book for baseball fans, Civil War buffs, fans of the underdog and for people who want to make a difference.
